Motivation

I always have good intentions of fixing things up or getting some decorating done in and around my house, but most of the time they are just intentions. When I go shopping I can almost always talk myself out of buying about anything and especially decorating items for my house or just essentials like towels, rugs, sheets.... and the list goes on. My biggest problem is that I just don't care that much about decorating and can make do with about anything. And the fact that I don't feel like I am any good at it doesn't help either. Also, I would rather save my money for a trip than buy a towel.

So I always need some motivation to get things done and this last week I got that motivation. To me having visitors is always a great reason to start sprucing things up (you know you really do need towels for visitors because it is embarrassing for people to know how you really live). My friend Anita emailed to say that she and her family would be coming for Christmas for two weeks. We are so excited, but I realized that there are lots of things that I meant to fix or change over the last six years since her last visit but haven't. Thus my motivation.

Since the beginning of summer I have had this big empty wall after we moved our bookcase to another wall.
And I have had this collage picture frame for probably eight months or more just waiting for me to find a place to hang it and replace the pictures of strangers with family members.

So this week after spending a day shopping for towels, curtains, a bedspread, rugs and a toilet paper holder (I only bought the toilet paper holder), I sat at my computer rummaging through all my picture files. I forget just how many pictures I have on my computer until I start going through them all. Luckily Lonica helped me figure out a system to organize them all but it still took almost a whole day to pick, crop and order the 38 pictures the frame needed.
And then a couple more hours to cut, paste and place them all. I think my motherhood qualities came out because I tried so hard to make all the pictures "fair" - not too many of one child and not enough of another.
And then as I looked at the few pictures I had left over I wondered if they said anything about me. Why had I chosen one and not another? Was it just picture quality - no. Did I pick just my favorites - no. Was it mat size - kind of. But was there some other deep meaning behind the pictures I chose, off the computer and off the floor? Who knows but I do know that when Anita and her family come for Christmas, we will have one less blank wall! And I do hope some new towels too.

Twenty-five years ago today

Twenty-five years ago my life completely changed and has never been the same since. I awoke early September 5, 1983 at about 2:00am with a burst of energy. I washed baby clothes I had received at a shower the week before, made phone lists, cleaned our townhouse and then tried to go back to bed. At 5:00 I got up again and when Garth got up at 5:30 to go play golf, I had a hard time talking him out of going. After all it was Labor Day and he had the day off. I wasn't sure I was in labor, I'd never been through it before, but I finally convinced him that calling me after every hole wasn't a good idea. Remember this was before the cell phone era so I don't know how he thought he would call me.

At 7:00am when my water broke, all doubt left us and we headed to the hospital knowing we would have a new baby that day. Two hours later, I was a mom to a beautiful 6 pound 13 ounce little girl. Garth and I were in heaven and couldn't believe the beautiful baby we had to love! Needless, to say I was scared to death to have this little girl to take care of. I stayed in the hospital as long as my insurance would let me and then my mom came the day I went home and stayed for a week. My mom was such a life saver; I didn't know how to take care of a newborn! After a week of my mom's help and wonderful meals she had prepared, she left me alone to care for this little baby. I was SO nervous! I really didn't know anything about being a mom, raising a daughter and teaching her everything she would need to know so she could make good decisions and grow into a responsible, caring, contributing member of society. I could barely figure out why she was crying.
But like all first time moms, I just started to wing it and prayed for a lot of help. She was a great baby and slept though the night after the third night we had her home; can't get much better than that! Garth and I would sit all night just watching her sleep. Sleeping is one activity she has excelled at from birth and still does very well.
She was a beautiful baby, toddler and little girl and made my life full of surprises and joy. I had no idea what joy and happiness a baby could bring to your life. You learn to put your needs last and thrill in the "newness" around you as they discover the world. I had forgotten just how exciting Christmas lights are or watching popcorn pop or playing in the rain. Lonica made me look at life all over again and it was fun.
She was always hard to buy gifts for because she never really played with toys. She wanted to dress up, make something, read something, put on a play or dance, be the teacher or store keeper or the museum director. Her creativity never stopped. There were many days I wished it would because she just had to have some fabric, paper, paint, glue or whatever right then to finish the latest project she was working on.
She never thought it was impossible to do anything and had such self confidence. If She needed help in a store or library, she was never intimated to ask an adult for it. She made up dances (she only took a few lessons when she was four) and performed them at her elementary school talent show, sang solos in choir, plays and recitals, played the piano, participated in Speech and Debate, swam in city meets, played water polo, took swing lessons, was a Junior Miss contestant and loved to scrapbook. She was such joy to watch in whatever she did and had such a great attitude whether she did well or not. To her it was all about the experience.
I could almost always talk her into doing crazy things with me whether it was a hike, project or some other off the wall thing. And she talked me into trying new things too, like making my own wallpaper or substituting in high school. She has always been an inspiration to me.
One of Lonica's greatest loves has been learning and going to school. I was so proud as I watched her receive her diploma from Arizona State University, sum cum laud and see the culmination of years of hard work. She has always loved to read and we have enjoyed discussing and teaching the same books, developing lessons plans together, bouncing ideas off one another and of course watching all 6 hours of A&E's Pride and Prejudice over and over and over again.
Today Lonica turns 25 years old and she has had a full 25 years. She has married a great guy named Scott whom we love and adore. They are always going, doing or trying something new and are never dull to be around. This weekend she is participating in her first triathlon, and so what if it isn't a full one, at least she is participating, she is giving it a shot.
Twenty five years ago, I had no idea what life would be like being Lonica's mother and I was so scared. Now it seems that those years have flown by and I realize that if I have a daughter that is 25, I must be 25 years older, but what wonderful, joyful, learning years they have been. I can't wait to see what the next 25 will hold for me and for my amazing daughter. I love you so much Lonica!!!

Willow Valley Hike

We have a friend, Terry Jorgensen, who has been our camping, hiking, Dutch oven cooking friend for over 20 years. About a month ago he started calling to get us to go on a new hike he had just found. He is always looking for adventure and I'm always willing to follow along with him. He planned the hike for Labor Day so Garth and Preston could go too. As you can see Preston opted out of the hike and stayed home to play basketball and golf, he made the safer decision.
Terry had also invited his friend Jim (in the jeans and blue shirt standing next to me), next is Terry, then Dennis' friend Don, Garth and our friend Dennis. We met at our house at 5:00am and had a two hour drive to the trail head east of Happy Jack. After dropping a car at one end of the trail, started on our adventure, a little after 9:00 and about an hour behind schedule, in 59 degree weather. Problem was that we couldn't find the beginning of the trail, so we just headed down a steep drainage area though rough, scratchy brush in the direction we knew we needed to go. Did I say that this was a remote area?

As you can see by Terry's arms we were all a little cut up by the time we hit the bottom and found the creek but we knew we were heading in the right direction because there was only one way to go!
Part of the adventure of this hike was the pools we would have to swim through, not just wade through but swim through. This was the first of those pools and Garth is trying desperately to find away around getting wet.
The water was ice cold and slimy green and by the time I got through the third pool I think that hypothermia was setting in. We had planned on the sun to warm us up. You know that Arizona has 363 days of sunshine a year so where was it yesterday?
Here is Garth swimming as fast as he can in the coldest and longest of the pools.
Just a little soaking wet from freezing, nasty green water. Oh, look a little sun.

Also, notice the boulders we were having to climb down, over and around. It was lots of work, especially when you are shivering to death. Terry had brought and carried a little raft he thought he would help him float - didn't work so well.
Here are Garth and I after finishing adventure number one - we made it through all the pools and are still alive.
In several places we found spider webs that had caught birds and squirrels. They were pretty creepy especially since the next part of the hike we were bushwhacking though brush above our waists or higher. You had no idea what was in there and I was just hoping it wasn't a spider who ate birds and squirrels.
The canyon was absolutely beautiful and reminded us a little of the Narrows hike in Zion National Park. The walls got very steep and high but the hiking was much more difficult than the Narrows. The rocks were slick and unstable and I think all of us had a couple of falls. The next portion of the hike was boulder hopping. Boulder hopping can be fun and is, but after 4 hours of it, it can get very tiring plus one missed step and you can really get hurt! But we safely made it through adventure number two!
We eventually came to some meadows and Garth wanted his picture taken right HERE. Most of the time there wasn't a trail to follow and so we just bushwhacked though the reeds, sticker bushes, trees, brush, fallen trees (which there were a lot off) and back and forth across the creek. Dennis had set his GSP and we could tell we were getting closer to the car, that is when we could get a signal, but after 7 hours of hiking we were all getting a little worried about finding the trail out. We finally came to the confluence which meant that the trail up and out was close but it evaded us.

Our next decisions could have been caused by being too tired, desperation or sheer stupidity but in our attempt to get of the canyon, we split up. Garth and I had been leading most of the hike and we decided to hike straight up a drainage wash. From where we were it looked as though the rim wasn't too far away. The soil was soft and moved with each step. It was very rocky but the rocks moved as well and couldn't be trusted for sure footing. We literally scratched and climbed on our hands and feet up a huge hill only to find that we were still far from the top. We could hear the rest of our group far below still looking for the trail. We decided to just keep hiking up and towards the direction of the trail, thinking that eventually we would hit the trail.
The next addition to the adventure was that the sun was beginning to set and we knew that we were running out of daylight and Garth was having a hard time catching his breath and couldn't go very fast. We both knew we could physically continue to make it up the cliff but we just weren't sure what we would find over the next ridge and if there would be a way out through the rock at the top. I was worried we would have to spend the night on the ledge because we would get stuck someplace. We were both praying a lot. Finally, Garth suggested we walk back the other way and see if there might be a place we could scale the rocks and low and behold, there was the trail!!!
We couldn't figure out where it had come from but there was a trail up through the hardest part of the cliff. We hadn't see any other hikers the entire day and all of the sudden there was a backpacker coming down the trail. He told us where we were and had seen our car and gave us directions to it. End of the biggest adventure of the day - we had made it up the cliff!

As you can see we were just a little happy to see the trail head when we made it out or is Garth too tired to smile? The six hour hike had taken us nine hours.

Our next big worry was were the rest of our group was. We made it back to the car and waited for about 30 minutes and finally the rest of our party hobbled in. They hadn't found the trail either and they too had hiked up a drainage wash only one ravine over. It was dark by the time everyone was back at the car and ready to go pick up the other vehicle and 10:30 by the time we made it home.

While it was a beautiful hike, it is one I will never do again. It was now the physically hardest hike I've ever been on (replacing Four Peaks) and an adventure that I won't repeat. We are using our caller ID now when Terry calls.

The craziest, freakiest storm ever!

Last night at 9:15, I was on the computer when I noticed that the rain was pounding the side of the house. I walked out to the front door and could hardly open it because of all the rain. But the craziest thing was the lightning and the thunder, they never stopped. The thunder just kept rolling and the sky was continually lit from the lightning, it was almost as if a strob light was going. In Arizona, we get some pretty intense storms but they come as quick as they go, most lasting 10 or 15 minutes at the most. Well, we had thunder and lightning for over an hour and ended up with .6" of rain and the rain only lasted about half that time. It was a little scary but I loved it and ended up getting an umbrella and heading outside to get a better look at the sky (not sure what that says about me - electrical storm and I head out with an umbrella). Of course an umbrella doesn't do much good when you look straight up!

Projects

Usually at the beginning of the summer I have a list of projects I want to get done before the heat gets the best of me and like the rest of Phoenix, I turn into a lump that doesn't want to move. Well, maybe because I was gone for the month of July, I still had energy in August. I'm quite sure that has never happened before in the 26 years I've lived here.

So this week has been all about projects I hadn't done at the beginning of the summer. I started subbing again this week and I worked for a teacher who was gone all week taking her daughter to school in Texas (I know that drive!) and she only has afternoon classes. So every morning I spent working on projects around my house.

This first project I'd been putting off for quite some time. I want to put molding around our window and hopefully give it a finished look. I had all the wood but just didn't have it cut, which I got done this week. The harder thing has been to get the correct stain color to match the rest of the wood in the family room. I finally figured that out yesterday but the wood still isn't stained or varnished yet. Next week!
Other projects were Christmas and baby gifts. Of course I can't show you those because some of you reading this may be the recipients of those projects. So here is a picture of Raquel and Dave from last Christmas. Aren't they cute even if they were sick?
My next project was to bottle 26 jars of blackberry freezer jam. Preston did help with the smashing and straining of the berries. I had never done this before and it is a mess!

Preston's project was to work on homework all week. He has done a fine job on that - I think that Jason's ipod helps him concentrate better, or so he says. Personally, I think it is a way to not hear me ask him questions.
One project that really took the whole day (I had just a little break while I went to school) was bottling chili sauce. Our family can't eat roast without it, so I peeled and cut up tomatoes for two hours, then added onions and everything else and let it cook half the day. Nothing smells better while it is cooking than chili sauce.
About 8:00 at night, I had 18 bottles of it!
Yesterday, I had two projects. The first was helping at the Humanitarian Aid Center pinning and trimming quilts. Like my boys, I love working there with the old people that can work circles around me. I help them get the hundreds of quilts that are tied ready to be bound.

It is an endless job because as soon as it looks like you are making head way, someone comes and delivers 20 more quilts that need to be bound and they are just added to the five shelves that are already waiting to be trimmed and pinned.

The second was making Olympic rings for Pack Meeting. I help with the wolf den and our theme this month was "Go For the Gold." The hardest part of this project was going to the pack meeting and helping the new cub master try and keep 35 cub scouts engaged!
Oh what will I do next week? Oh yeah, finish the molding and maybe start my 2007 photo album.

Oh, the things that can happen in just one week!

It is amazing how things can change in just a few short days. School got off to a good start, Preston liked all of his classes but one and thought this year would be pretty good. He was loving his new freedom that four wheels can provide. One more look at his preferred means of transportation.
But after just four days of driving to school, things drastically changed. Due to some very poor decision making on his part, his new means of transportation just has two wheels.
Needless to say, someone is having to pay the consequences of hitting a parked car in the Mountain View parking lot and not having the good sense to stop, assess the damage and leave personal information. He was leaving one hour before school got out so there wasn't even the excuse that he was in heavy traffic.

While the damage was minimal to the other car and to our truck, Garth and I have deemed Preston not ready to drive because of inadequate decision making ability. Garth has declared that Preston won't drive for a year but I'll bet that will change. We are reassured about our decision to have teenagers drive old cars; teen drivers are just accidents waiting to happen. This poor old truck has really been through it, this is the second time this side of the front end has been hit and the other side has been hit once. Although this is the least amount of damage either side has ever incurred.
We didn't think anyone could beat Lonica's record of hitting a parked car after just having her license for just one week but her younger brother managed to do so.

The other car needs to have a bumper replaced and as soon as Preston got home yesterday, he was on the phone looking for work to pay for a new bumper. We already paid $700 for the rhino he wrecked last April, so this one is all on him. If you know anyone who needs some work done, I know a teenager who can bike over and help them out.

The end of summer but not the heat

After returning home from our once-in-a-life-time trip, Preston and I had to get busy to get ready for school which started yesterday. Since he had to start running for cross country the first morning we got back at 5:15 am, he did take a day off one day to play games with his friends and get over the jet lag.
Then we had four days to get all the jobs done we had planned or started at the beginning of the summer but hadn't finished. So we shopped for food (the house was empty), cleaned the barbecue grill, cleaned out cupboards, vacuumed and dusted baseboards, filed old papers, cleaned bedrooms and
Preston had to finish painting the trim on the house. He had crashed a friend's rhino last spring and did $700 worth of damage. As a result, Preston painted all the trim and anything else Garth could find for him to do. There is nothing like painting when it is 108 degrees with humidity!
We also had to get the truck (our 15 year old Nissan one) ready for him to drive; we don't want to be driving him to school at 5:15 am like we did last year and since we made all the other kids drive old vehicles why would we get a new one for him? The shop had it all week and were baffled as to why it won't start after it has been running for awhile. So we told Preston, "you'll be OK because you just drive it to and from school so just don't stall it."

The other important thing we had to do was get his driver's license, which we did last Saturday. Of course, no driver's license photos are ones you want to hang on your wall but Preston's looks like a mug shot. He is thrilled with the freedom he now has and it is easy to say Garth and I aren't nearly as thrilled. Driving a stick in Phoenix traffic is difficult for experienced drivers, but for inexperienced ones - it makes a mother nervous!Then Sunday, Garth ordained him to the office of a priest during priesthood. As Garth and I walked out of the Bishop's office we commented how weird and sad it was to being doing all these things for Preston. He was always the baby but he definitely isn't anymore. And I'm quite certain I'm not ready to have all our kids gone in a couple of years.

Yesterday, he took off in our old, salvage value truck for his first day of 11th grade. I was so thrilled to see him arrive home safely after school and his drive to his piano lesson and back. I don't have to be a chauffeur more, what will I do with all my free time?